50 Short Wedding Dresses For Every Style And Budget

I wore a short wedding dress to my wedding. A decade ago, short wedding dresses were just starting to make a comeback, and picking one felt like a bit of a wild choice (in fact, you can see my early overthinking of the subject right here).

Back in the day, finding a short wedding dress was something of a nightmare. Every time I saw a blog post with a short wedding dress, I’d desperately look for the credits, only to find that the dress was custom made, or vintage, or simply not credited at all. So I did what any reasonable person would do, which was go into wedding dress boutiques and show them pictures of dresses I liked. The salespeople would always nod and smile very politely, and then tell me they had something very similar. Then they’d pull out several full length, strapless, cupcake dresses, and suggest I might look GREAT in a dress like this. (Further review would confirm all the dresses in the store looked exactly the same.) In one particularly desperate moment, a saleslady pulled out a $10,000 Vera Wang dress that weighed at least ten pounds, and suggested I could just chop it in half. Clearly, the logical thing to do with a recent $10K purchase is to chop it down the middle and hope that it works out. Needless to say, I didn’t follow that salesperson’s advice or even end up buying a dress at a bridal salon. Instead, I…. you guessed it… tried to make my own dress, and when that failed, I lucked out and found a perfect $250 vintage short wedding dress. Nice for me, but just as unhelpful to you as all those blog posts I read back in the day.

Now (with thanks to the wedding Goddesses, along with a changing industry), finding a short wedding dress isn’t super difficult, though you still often can’t find what you’re looking for at your local bridal boutique. But thanks to the wonder of the internet, now you can buy great wedding dresses online, saving you ridiculous conversations with saleswomen, who suggest chopping dresses in half to achieve your desired look. Plus, short wedding dresses have the added advantage of not always being marketed as wedding dresses, making them much more affordable.

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Pro-tip: If you’re having a hard time finding a short wedding dress you like, try looking for reception dresses. Often super stylish, super affordable short dresses will be marketed as dresses to wear while you dance… but they’re clearly cute enough to wear all night long. In fact, BHLDN has a whole reception dress section, and it tends to be pretty killer.

So without further ado, here is a selection of vintage short wedding dresses, bohemian short wedding dresses, and modern short wedding dresses, in a variety of price points and sizes (including some rental options).

Vintage STyle Short Wedding Dresses

Personally, I’m grateful that the silhouette originally known as The New Look has made a comeback. One day I may be like my grandmother, rocking it regardless of whether it’s in or out of style because it is the single most flattering look on my body. If like me, you’re looking for a vintage short wedding dress, this might be the vibe for you. But we’ve also thrown in vintage styles from a bunch of different eras because we can all get behind some ’60s chic or ’70s glam, and we’re always here for the flappers.

Bohemian Short Wedding Dresses

When you think bohemian, it’s often the maxi dress that comes to mind. More is more is MORE, right? But some of the coolest bohemian wedding dresses are short ones. The balance of maximal with less (dress), creates a really design-y take on one of our favorite looks.

Short And Simple

The wedding industry loves to push this idea that you need to make sure your dress is “bridal,” whatever that means. One assumes that a bride wearing a dress makes it bridal, but in an industry that loves a good upsell, it’s easy to get the idea that your dress needs to be EXTRA, even if that’s really not your jam. So rest assured, even if your dress is short, it’s bridal. And if your dress is simple, it’s also bridal. And if it’s short and simple? Well then it’s not just bridal, it’s super modern. With that in mind, we’ve picked some little white dresses for those of you with a more minimalist aesthetic. You’ll look like a bad-ass bride in all of these, we guarantee it.

Modern Short Wedding Dresses

If you’re looking for a short wedding dress, chances are you’re a little fashion forward in the first place. So embrace it! Don’t be afraid of cutouts, exaggerated sleeves, or sleek silhouettes. Trust me, looking back, you’ll never regret going bold. Go big or go home, as we always say. Or in this case, little, with a big vibe.

NONTRADITIONAL Short Wedding Dresses

You know our rule on this. The only thing that makes a wedding dress a wedding dress is that you wear it to your wedding, and don’t let anyone tell you different. Your bridal style is what you make it. So while these dresses might not be sold as wedding dresses, they probably should be.

If you wore a short wedding dress, where did you get it? What did it look like? Pictures or it doesn’t count!

Meg Keene

Founder & Editor-In-Chief

Meg is the Founder of APW, and has been the sites EIC for the past eleven years. She has written two best selling wedding books:A Practical Weddingand A Practical Wedding Planner. Meg’s work has been referenced in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Jezebel, and Refinery29. She’s also written hugely viral wedding articles for Buzzfeed. She lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and two children. For more than you ever wanted to know about Meg, you can visit MegKeene.com.

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